This invention is related to mooring devices, and more particularly to an apparatus which aids in the mooring of a boat at a mooring buoy or piling.
The usual mooring buoy or float has a ring to which a mooring cable or rope is attached. With this arrangement it is difficult to xe2x80x9cpick upxe2x80x9d the buoy or to attach a mooring rope to the buoy due to the tossing of the boat and the buoy. Another factor will be the boat""s momentum at the time. It is difficult to judge distance so accurately that power or sails can be reduced sufficiently at such a time that the forward movement of the boat will be dissipated at the time it is alongside the buoy, especially in a wind. It is dangerous to pick up the buoy when the boat is moving even slowly as a heavy boat has much momentum and cannot be stopped by holding onto the buoy by the hand. Furthermore, in choppy water, it is difficult to hold the boat for a sufficient period of time to connect the mooring rope with the ring or other attachment devices of the buoy. It is also common for the operator of a boat to xe2x80x9closexe2x80x9d the mooring under the bow of the boat when he approaches within ten to fifteen feet.
In an area where finger piers are short in length and the rise and fall of the tide is less than four feet, a different system for mooring boats is used than the system used with a large rise and fall of the tide. In the former system, two pilings (Dolphins) are driven in eight or ten feet beyond the outer end of the boat. When landing, the crew must pick up both lines when passing by to keep the boat from striking the walkway. With a cross wind blowing, the boat blows to one side, usually coming in contact with a piling. It may be easy enough to lift a line off a hook attached to one pile, but very difficult to do the same when the other piling is six to eight feet beyond the reach of the helper. The standard prior art piling hook holding the coil of line is made of wood, steel or rigid plastic. Because of its configuration, the line cannot be pulled horizontally off the rigid hook or it will become snarled. Currently, the only way the line can be taken off the piling hook is to lift it vertically by hand.
Several prior art devices have attempted to address the problems of mooring a boat to a buoy by extending a pole above the buoy with a hooking means for receiving and snaring a line from the boat. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,921,500 and 1,801,729. However, the previously described mooring problems are not addressed by these patents.
Applicant has previously addressed some of the above problems encountered when mooring a boat at a boat dock. See, Applicant""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,134, xe2x80x9cDocking Aid Apparatusxe2x80x9d, Issued on May 28, 1996 (""134 Patent), and incorporated herein by reference. However, to the best of Applicant""s knowledge, the principles of the ""134 Patent have not been applied to mooring buoys or to pilings.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a mooring aid. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved mooring aid which is simple and flexible in its use.
To attain this, the present invention, in one embodiment, provides a vertical, flexible, fiberglass pole extending vertically upward from a mooring buoy. The pole has a resilient line holder attached near to the top of the pole. Reflective tape is applied to the pole for increased visibility, even during night time. The line holder retains a mooring line, which is secured beneath the buoy, in a coil until removed when mooring. A deckhand reaches out from an approaching boat to grasp any part of the mooring line and, regardless, if there is still line left on the line holder, a horizontal pull will release the entire coil, down to where the other end of the mooring line is secured beneath the buoy. The free end of the mooring line is secured to the boat deck at a predetermined length that will automatically bring the boat to a halt and stop its forward momentum. The resiliency of the line holder prevents entanglement of the mooring line. A person single-handling a boat can reach out safely retrieving the mooring line and easily bringing the line back to the helmsman station, thereby eliminating the danger of running forward when he thinks the boat is on the mooring buoy.
In another embodiment of the invention a resilient line holder is attached to a piling by means of a vinyl base. The hook is arranged vertically, but can rotate in a horizontal plane 180 degrees. A label of reflective tape is applied to the vinyl base for increased visibility, even during nighttime. The line holder retains a mooring line, which is secured at one end to a cleat attached to the piling, in a coil until removed when mooring. A deckhand reaches out from an approaching boat to grasp any part of the mooring line and, regardless, if there is still line left on the line holder, a horizontal pull will release the entire coil, down to where the other end of the mooring line is secured to the piling cleat. The free end of the mooring line is secured to the boat deck at a predetermined length that will automatically bring the boat to a halt and stop its forward momentum. The resiliency of the line holder prevents entanglement of the mooring line. A person single-handling a boat can reach out safely retrieving the mooring line and easily bringing the line back to the helmsman station.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention.